WWJD? Pastor to speak on fear, stand-your-ground laws in vigil at Statehouse

Andrew McHenry: Try to understand other people, not see world 'through the lens of fear'

A former Topeka jail chaplain will speak out against stand-your-ground laws at a vigil Wednesday at the Capitol.

Andrew McHenry plans to deliver a message about fear and faith at the event, which is organized by activist Sonny Scroggins to mark the second anniversary of the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. The candlelight ceremony will begin at 6 p.m. on the south side of the Statehouse.

“We need peace and healing,” McHenry said. “I think the laws have not served a good function. A lot of people feel and experience that it’s almost like lynching is becoming a regular part of reality again, legalized lynching in some ways, and this needs to be addressed. We can’t overlook it. They’re praying and hoping for peace and something better to come from America.”

A jury last year acquitted George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain in Sanford, Fla., in the Feb. 26, 2012, slaying of Martin, an unarmed black teenager. The case forced a national debate about racial profiling, vigilante justice and self defense.

“He’s just a symptom of the problem,” Scroggins said of Zimmerman. “The problem is the law.”

McHenry said this is the first time he has spoken out publicly against stand-your-ground laws. The Topeka native was a chaplain at several Topeka facilities while working for the Department of Corrections for six years. He has been a pastor at First Congregational Church in Emporia since 2008.

“So much behavior in America today is governed by what people are afraid of,” McHenry said. “When we’re afraid of people, we tend to act in erratic ways.”

The pastor’s teachings are influenced by Charles Sheldon, the Topeka minister who coined the phrase, “What would Jesus do?”

McHenry said Sheldon’s message of embracing sacrifice, as well as biblical messages of loving your neighbor and seeing people as Jesus sees them, come to mind when considering the controversial laws.

“I think it’s good if we can just sit down and know our neighbors,” McHenry said, “rather than keep our distance and be suspicious of them. I think it’s good if people can understand the life and experiences and feelings of other people groups besides their own, rather than seeing the world through the lens of fear. I think of what Jesus said in Mark 5:36 — ‘Do not be afraid, only believe.’ ”

When people are afraid, McHenry said, “We do things that are disruptive,” and “we aren’t our best selves.”

Scroggins has protested stand-your-ground laws from their onset with calls to “revise, amend and rewrite.” He invites the public to attend Wednesday’s vigil.

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apparently they oppose the right to defend yourself. Self defense laws have been around a long time. I guess they believe when you get jumped by a much younger stronger man who is beating your head into the concrete after telling you he is going to kill you, you are supposed to just let him.